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Ara To Fly All Eight Pride Flags During New Zealand’s Pride Week

In 2020, Ara Institute of Canterbury was one of the few institutes around the country that flew all eight Pride flags. This year, from Thursday the 4th March, these eight brightly-coloured flags will rise again outside Christchurch’s Madras Street campus.

Although World Pride takes place in June, Pride Week (and month) takes place in February and March in New Zealand. 

Many people know the traditional eight colour rainbow Pride flag, with each colour having its own meaning (red - life and sexuality, orange - healing and friendship, yellow - vitality and energy, green - serenity and nature, blue - harmony and artistry, purple - spirit and gratitude). However, there are many more that have been created over time to reflect the diversity that exists amongst the communities it represents.

Along with the Rainbow flag, the following flags will also be flown at Ara across Pride Week: genderfluid, genderqueer, non-binary, lesbian pride, pansexual pride, transgender pride and intersex. 

The 8 flags Ara will fly during Pride Week

The 8 flags Ara will fly during Pride Week

Breakdown of terms: 

Genderfluid - a gender identity which refers to a gender which varies over time. A genderfluid person's identity may change constantly, so it's always best to ask what they are in that moment. 

Non-Binary - can mean different things to different people. At its core, it’s used to describe someone whose gender identity isn’t exclusively male or female. If someone tells you they’re nonbinary, it’s always important to ask what being nonbinary means to them. Some people who are nonbinary experience their gender as both male and female, and others experience their gender as neither male nor female. 

Pansexual - A sexualromantic, or emotional attraction towards people regardless of their sex or gender identity. Pansexual people may refer to themselves as gender-blind, asserting that gender and sex are not determining factors in their romantic or sexual attraction to others. 

Intersex - Intersex is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. 

Genderqueer - The term genderqueer is similar to non-binary, but has a slightly different meaning. The dictionary defines genderqueer as the following: "denoting or relating to a person who does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but identifies with neither, both, or a combination of male and female genders." 

Lesbian - A homosexual woman. The word lesbian is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behaviour, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterise or associate nouns with female homosexuality or same-sex attraction 

Transgender - Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression or behaviour does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. Gender identity refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female or something else; gender expression refers to the way a person communicates gender identity to others through behaviour, clothing, hairstyles, voice or body characteristics. “Trans” is sometimes used as shorthand for “transgender.” 

The original rainbow flag first flew in San Francisco's United Nations Plaza for Gay Pride Day, on June 25, 1978. It had eight colours - two more than today's version - and was designed by Gilbert Baker, an openly gay artist and activist. He had been commissioned to design a symbol for the LGBTQ community by his friend Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California. 

In 2020, passers-by added the flags flying at Ara to their social media via pictures and hashtags and learners gave positive feedback regarding their presence.